A traditional recipe from the Canary Islands, the exact ingredients that go into garbanzada a lo Canario usually vary from kitchen to kitchen, but the base of vegetables, tomatos and garbanzos remains the same. Seasoned with typical Spanish flavors like garlic and pimentón, garbanzada a lo Canario is bursting with flavor no matter what else you choose to make it with.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan and cook the onions until transparent.

Add in the bell pepper and cook until soft.

Meanwhile, mince the garlic cloves and then add them in and cook until slightly browned.

Add in the tomato sauce and mix well with the other ingredients over medium / high heat.

Add in the meats minus the pork belly and cook in the tomato mixture for 10 minutes or until done.

Add the laurel, thyme, and paprika, mix well and remove from the heat.

In a stew pot, cook the pork belly, with a little olive oil if necessary, as you would pancetta or bacon.

Once the pork belly is done, add in the white wine and continue to cook, allowing the wine to evaporate.

Add the chickpeas and enough broth to cover them to the pot with the cooked pork belly and bring the broth to a boil.

Once boiling, remove any excess fat from the top of the broth, add the tomato sauce mixture and meat and bring everything to a simmer.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer until reduced to the desired consistency, serve hot and enjoy!

Notes

There are various methods for cooking garbanzada a lo Canario; while many people cook the meat in the tomato mixture, others choose to boil the meat with dried chickpeas prior to preparing the tomato mixture and combine everything together later. The method you choose is completely up to you. Alternatively, you could make garbanzada a lo Canario with leftover meat and sausage rather than cooking the meat with this dish. We have also made this a vegan / vegetarian stew by omitting the use of meat altogether in favor of adding carrots and cauliflower and compensating for the flavor normally given by the chorizo by adding extra garlic and pimentón to taste.